Cirrus Cloud Protect vs native Azure Backup

19 June 2023

Cirrus Cloud Protect emerges as a revolutionary SaaS backup solution for cloud workloads, designed for businesses seeking more than the native Azure Backup solution.

While the native Azure Backup solution is suitable for some simple cases, we have developed Cirrus Cloud Protect specifically for those who require a more comprehensive data protection strategy.

 

Secondary Storage Location:

While Azure Backup only allows backups to be stored within Azure itself, Cirrus Cloud Protect allows users to send backups to external storage respositories.

Primary backups from Cirrus Cloud Protect are always stored in Azure, to ensure the data is available to be restored quickly when needed. But to comply with the 3-2-1 rule of backups, users have the option of sending a second copy of each data backup to a third provider, such as Wasabi.

Moreover, Cirrus Cloud Protect will support additional storage options in the future, such as Amazon S3 and Google Storage, allowing users to replicate their data across multiple alternative locations, thus increasing data redundancy and bolstering overall data resiliency.

 

Backup Frequency:

Cirrus Cloud Protect reduces the risk of data loss through the option for more frequent backups. Azure Backup standard policy only allows for a daily backup and a 24-hour recovery point objective (RPO). Think of RPO as being the amount of data you can afford to lose. Losing 24hrs worth of work may be fine for data which seldom changes but will be too restrictive when you have data which changes more frequently.

With Cirrus Cloud Protect, you have the flexibility to set your own RPO. What if you need different policies for different data? Easy. Create as many policies as you need. Maybe some data only changes once or twice per week, so build a weekly policy. But maybe you have an online store and you can’t afford to lose orders. In that case build a policy with an hourly protection policy – or better yet, use one of the in-built policy templates.

 

Compression:

Azure Backup does not compress VM or File backups and compression of SQL backups is not enabled by default. In fact, even when SQL compression is enabled, this is SQL-based compression within the database layer – i.e. the source data – not specifically backup data.

In contrast, Cirrus Cloud Protect compresses all data by default, thereby reducing storage and recovery costs and offering significant cost savings.

 

Extras:

Beyond strengthening features that exist within native Azure Backup, Cirrus Cloud Protect brings additional features to the table.

Cirrus allows users to browse their backups directly and offers granular restore capabilities, giving users the flexibility to restore individual files or even specific objects within a file. This is particularly advantageous in the of data loss.

Moreover, Cirrus Cloud Protect operates on a policy-driven approach, supplemented by optional drag and drop functionality, simplifying backup management and ensuring regulatory compliance for businesses.

One of the most noteworthy benefits of Cirrus Cloud Protect is its user-friendly design, catering to both IT and non-IT-savvy users alike.

 

Explore more about how Cirrus Cloud Protect can benefit your business by booking a demo with us.